Rack



July 4, 1950 B. H. KENNEDY RACK Filed Oct. 4, 1945 mm MM NK mR w Mm .3 mW z A 9 WWW $0M July 4, 1950 B. H. KENNEDY 2,513,806

RACK I Filed Oct. 4, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Qt /7 O 6 INVENTOR BENJAMINh. MFA/NED) BY EM,UM,MMM

ATTORNEYS Patented July 4, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RACKBenjamin:H.-Kennedy,.PittsforlLN. Y. Application October-4, 1945; SerialNo. 620,270

4-Claims. 1=

This invention relates to racks and'ha'sfor its object the provisionofan improved rack for supporting clothing and the like. The inventionprovides a many-purposerack of very simple construction which mayeasilybe adjusted from operative to inoperativepositions and which maybe folded into a compactformfor storage or shipment. The rack of theinvention comprises at least-' two spaced strips of spring metal with aplurality of connected cross bars, means for attaching the rack at itstop to a wall,,door, or the like, and means for supporting the rack in abowed or arcuate position.

The various bars attached to the metal strips are preferabl connected byrivets or the. like which. provide a suflicient' pivotal; movement ofthe bars with respect to the metal strips that the rack'may be folded toa narrow compact form for'storage or shipment.

The. invention provides meansfor removably attaching the rack to a doorwhereby the rack may be suspended in afiat position in parallelism withthei door or raised to assume a bowed position for receiving various.articles of clothing. The door-attaching means ar so constructed andarranged that they may be attached to a door without marring the finishand be set at various positions on the door without interfering with thenormal opening and closing of the door.

The invention also provides :an improved hanger for garments, especiallyadaptable for use in combination with horizontally disposed supportingbars or the like. The hanger comprises a pair of rods held in closepressing contact by means of lbowed end springs which serve theadditional purpose of engaging the horizontal supporting bar.

These and other novel features of the invention will be betterunderstood after considering the following discussion taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a rack of the invention in two positions, togetherwith means for supporting the rack on a door;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view along th line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the rack of Fig. 1, with Parts removed.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary front view of the rack of Fig. 1, withparts removed;

Fig. *6 is a view of the rack of Fig. 1 in a folded position;

Fig. '7 is a front view of apart of the rack hangerof Fig. 1;

Fig; 8 is a detailed side view of a modified mounting for the rack; and

Fig. 9 is a front view of a part of the apparatus of Fig. 8.

The rack illustrated in the drawings comprises two thin strips of springsteel I and 2 serving'as end'supports for :a plurality'of bars 3' whichare pivotally connected to the strips by rivets 4.- The upper ends ofthe strips may beprovidedwith any suitable form of attaching) means,such as hooks BandG', by means of which the rack may be' suspended froma bar, rod, or other attaching device". The strips l' and 2 arepreferably'formed ofspring'steel which is fairly rigid'but sufficientlyresilient to assume the bowed position shown in Fig. 1 when the lower".end of the rack is raised and fastened in its raised position. When thelower end is released, the strips straighten out and-the rack mabe-lef-t hanging i'n a flat position:

As shown in Fig. 1, the closet door has-a removable bracket attachedthereto-for supporting therack. This bracket comprises endcleats'orstirrups l0 and H to which are attached angular brackets I2 and I3through which the rod 14 is inserted. By means of the wing nuts l5 andI6, the stirrups may be drawn into tight gripping engagement with thedoor and the rod I4 is accordingly held in a rigid position spaced ashort distance outwardly from the door. The hooks 5 and 6 on the ends ofthe strips may be placed over the rod M and the rack normally assumesthe flat hanging position in substantial parallelism With the door, asshown in broken lines. In order to shorten the distance between the endsof the rack to bring it into the bowed position, the lower end is raisedand attached. To this end the hanger I5 is provided for attachment torod M. This hanger, as best shown in Fig. 7, has hooks l6 and H at thetop for engaging the rod 14, spacing bars l8 and I9 and supporting bars20 and 2| with bottom hooks 22 and 23 for engaging the lowermost bar ofthe rack, as shown in Fig. 1, to support it in its bowed position.

The rack, as shown in greater detail in Figs. 1 and 5, may be attachedto any fiat upright wall by the simple means illustrated in Figs. 8 and9, for example. In this adaptation of the invention, the wire bracket 25is attached to the wall 26 by means of the screw 27. The hook 5 on theend of the s trip 2 is hooked over the wire bracket from which member itmay hang in a flat position along the side of the wall or be bent to itsbowed position for use. A very simple means of accomplishing thispurpose is shown in Fig. 8 Where a simple angle screw 28 is screwed intothe wall for receiving the lowermost rail 3 to thereby hold the rack inits bowed position.

The improved rack of the invention has many uses in addition to thoseillustrated. For example, the rack may be inserted in an open windowwith the lower end bearing against the window sill and the upper endbearing against the window sash. By adjusting the position of thewindow, the rack may be bowed the desired amount.

The garment hanger, illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, comprises a pair ofspring steel loops 30, the

ends of which are attached, as by welding, to two 4 they normally assumea flat position, support means for removable attachment to a doorincluding means for grippingly engaging the side edges of the door,means on the upper part of the rack for effecting its suspendedattachment to the support means, and means near the bottom of the rackto secure the rack with the strips bent in the form of a bow.

3. An improved rack which comprises at least two spaced strips of springmetal, a plurality of spaced bars attached near their ends to the metalstrips, the metal strips being so flexible that they may easily be bentinto a bow and so resilient that bars 3i and 32 which are held in'yieldable press-. I

ing contact, as shown in Fig. 3. This hanger may be used for variouspurposes but is particularly suitable for the hanging of skirts whichmaybe drawn through between the bars 3| and 32 and held in that positionby reason of the gripping contact of the bars. To facilitate the use ofthe hanger for this purpose, the ends of the bars project a shortdistance beyond the spring loops and are bent outwardly, as best shownin Fig. 1.

I claim: 1. An improved rack which comprises at least two spaced stripsof spring metal, a plurality of spaced bars attached near their ends tothe metal strips, the metal strips being so flexible that they mayeasily be bent into a bow and so resilient that they normally assume aflat position, means at the upper end of the rack to suspend it fromawall, door or the like with the bars in a horizontal position, and meansfor attaching the lower end of the rack to the wall, door or the likewhich may be so spaced with respect to the aforementioned means thatwhen the lower end of the rack is attached the strips are bent into abow and when not attached the strips assume a flat position. v

2. An improved rack which comprises at least two spaced strips of springmetal, a plurality of spaced bars attached near their ends to the metalstrips, the metal strips being so flexible that they may easily be bentinto a bow and so resilient that they normally assume a fiat position,means near the upper part of the rack to suspend it with the bars in ahorizontal position, and means near the lower part of the rack to securethe metal strips in a bowed position.

4. A rack for attachment to a door which comprises means for grippingthe side portions of the door, means for connecting the gripping meansto the rack, said: rack comprising at least two'upright spring metalstrips and a, plurality of spaced bars attached thereto, and means forholding the rack in a bowed position.

BENJAMIN H. KENNEDY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS] Number Name H Date 163,928 Heath June 1, 1875366,013 Martin July 5, 1887 871,703 Keith -4. Nov. 19, 1907 1,663,176Reyher Mar. 20, 1928 1,696,128 Shee Dec. 18, 1928 1,769,805 Solofi July1, 1930 1,998,899 Kratt Apr. 23, 1935 2,024,892 Soper Dec. 17, 1935FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country 7 Date 20,719 Great Britain 1905

